Giant hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rain lashed southeast Queensland overnight as supercells reportedly damaged homes.
Residents from the Central Highlands down to the NSW border braced for the storms on Tuesday evening.
Hailstones the size of golf and cricket balls were reported southwest of Toowoomba on Tuesday afternoon while a 111km/h gust was observed at St George.
Giant hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rain lashed southeast Queensland overnight as supercells reportedly damaged homes
Higgins Storm Chasing, live streaming west of Towoomba, urged residents to take cover after receiving reports of property being damaged by a tornado near Kingaroy
Residents from the Central Highlands down to the NSW border braced for the storms on Tuesday evening
Hailstones the size of golf and cricket balls were reported southwest of Toowoomba on Tuesday afternoon
An 111km/h gust was observed at St George during the intense storm (pictured is a shattered windshield)
Higgins Storm Chasing, live streaming west of Towoomba, urged residents to take cover after receiving reports of property being damaged by a tornado near Kingaroy.
‘Twister at Hivesville Qld, tore trees apart put them through shed walls,’ one woman wrote on Facebook.
‘Ankle deep with marble size hail. Fences all over the farm torn apart and down. Starting to get dark unable to check all fences and livestock.’
The BoM could not confirm reports of the tornado but had received reports of a roof being torn off a home near Cecil Plains while heavy winds snapped power poles.
The wind speeds needed to cause such damage would be close to 120km/h, BoM senior forecaster Jonty Hall said.
‘This is the higher end for thunderstorms in Australia,’ he said.
Mr Hall said giant hailstones which measured 11 centimetres in diameter were reported along with wind damage in the Darling Downs region.
‘There are lots of reports of cricket-ball-sized stones but (11cm) is pretty rare,’ he said.
‘You wouldn’t see it every year in Australia.’
Giant hailstones which measured 11 centimetres in diameter were reported along with wind damage in the Darling Downs region.
The wind speeds needed to cause such damage would be close to 120km/h, BoM senior forecaster Jonty Hall said
Hail litters the ground in southest Queensland during the storm
Heavy falls were recorded in some parts of the state including one rain guage which received 60 millimetres in an hour
A second line of supercells formed to the west of the first barrage and began rapidly moving east.
They have since merged with the original storm front and are expected to replace the hailstone conditions with heavy rain.
‘It’s killing off those cells and getting rid of the large hail,’ Mr Hall said.
Heavy falls were recorded in some parts of the state including one rain guage which received 60 millimetres in an hour.
Queensland’s southeast suffered it’s hottest day of the month on Christmas Day with the mercury surpassing 36C.
The heat was replaced by storms in the late afternoon with heavy rain falling across most of the southeast on Christmas night.
The area will sit at 28C on Wednesday with the possibility of 25mm of rain.
Showers will begin to clear on Friday as the temperature climbs to 31C.
Queensland’s southeast suffered it’s hottest day of the month on Christmas Day with the mercury surpassing 36C